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Nets remain winless at home after 113-99 loss to Celtics

NEW YORK (AP) — Jaylen Brown scored 29 points, Payton Pritchard had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and the Boston Celtics beat the Brooklyn Nets 113-99 on Tuesday night to move above .500 for the first time this season.

Derrick White added 15 points for the Celtics, who won their third straight game to improve to 8-7. They played the Nets even for about three quarters before smothering them defensively in the fourth, allowing just one basket for the first 10 minutes of the period.

Michael Porter Jr. scored 25 points for the Nets, his career-best seventh straight game with at least 20. But after his 3-pointer gave Brooklyn a 90-89 lead with 9:08 left, the Nets didn’t make another basket until 1:56 remained.

Day’Ron Sharpe added 16 points for the Nets, who fell to 2-12 overall and 0-7 at home.

The Celtics started the season 0-3 and then won their next three. They dropped the next two games and hadn’t gotten their record back to even again until beating the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.

Porter had 18 points at halftime and Pritchard scored 17. The teams combined for 22 2-pointers and 21 3-pointers in the first half, which ended with Boston leading 62-61.

The Celtics opened their first double-digit cushion when Brown followed a three-point play with a 3-pointer to cap an 8-0 burst and make it 75-65 with 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the third. Brooklyn cut it to one late in the period before Brown made another 3-pointer to send the Celtics to the fourth with an 89-85 edge.

With the Celtics leading 97-92, they chased down three missed shots on one possession to set up White’s 3-pointer. After a Brooklyn free throw, he made another 3 to make it 103-93. Brown’s 3 with 2:55 left capped an 18-3 run to make it 107-93.

Up next

The teams meet Friday night in Boston.

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Devils Suffer 5-1 Loss To Lightning

Reinforcements arrived for the New Jersey Devils ahead of their Tuesday night game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Benchmark International Arena. 

Forward Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov, along with defenseman Dougie Hamilton, returned to head coach Sheldon Keefe's lineup. Brenden Dillon, who was a game-time decision after missing Monday's practice, also played. 

The welcomed additions to the lineup caused a shake-up amongst the Devils' forward group, with only one line remaining intact from the prior game. Arseny Gritsyuk was elevated to play with Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt, while Dawson Mercer centered a line with Timo Meier and Brown on his wings. Dadonov began on the fourth line with Paul Cotter and Luke Glendening. 

The new-look Devils looked out of sync for most of the 60 minutes and ultimately suffered a 5-1 loss to the Lightning, with Guentzel scoring a hat trick. 

Guentzel scored the game's opening goal at 11:40 of the first period. Mercer attempted a pass to Meier, but Guentzel picked up the pass and beat Markstrom on the breakaway. 

With 21 seconds left in the opening period, Anthony Cirelli found a wide-open Nikita Kucherov to extend Tampa's lead to 2-0 heading into the first intermission. 

While Luke Hughes was in the penalty box, Tampa extended its lead to 3-0. Guentzel scored his second goal of the game. 

Hischier provided a spark for the team when he scored in the final minutes of the second period. The play was reviewed and confirmed as a good goal. Gritsyuk and Bratt picked up the assists. 

Darren Raddysh's slap shot beat Markstrom 4:49 into the third period, for a 4-1 Tampa lead. Dennis Cholowski turned the puck over to J.J. Moser. He passed the puck up ice to Brayden Point, who found Raddysh. 

With 12 minutes remaining in regulation, Guentzel completed the hat trick, securing a 5-1 victory for the Lightning. He entered tonight's game with 32 points in 33 games against New Jersey. 

The Devils will travel to Sunrise to face the Florida Panthers on Thursday. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's New Jersey Devils site for THN's latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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Devils give up hat trick in 5-1 loss to Lightning

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jake Guentzel scored three goals for his eighth career hat trick and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New Jersey Devils 5-1 on Tuesday night.

Darren Raddysh had a goal and two assists, and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and assist. Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 31 saves as Tampa Bay improved to 9-3-0 since a 1-4-2 start.

Nico Hischier scored for New Jersey, which got Dougie Hamilton, Connor Brown and Evgeni Dadanov back in the lineup. Jakob Markstrom stopped 24 shots for the Devils, who lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 2 to end a five-game point streak (4-0-1).

The Lightning played without coach Jon Cooper, who missed the game for what the team described as personal reasons. Cooper, the head coach for Team Canada at the Olympics in February, last missed a game on Dec. 21, 2021, at Las Vegas when he tested positive for COVID.

Jeff Halpern served as the head coach on Tuesday.

Guentzel opened the scoring on a breakaway 11:40 into the game, and added his second of the game at 10:38 of the second period with a power-play goal as he shoveled in a pass from Raddysh. Guentzel completed his third hat trick in a Lightning uniform at 7:48 of the third period from the left post as he again shoveled a puck into the net off a cross-ice pass from Kucherov.

Kucherov moved into third all-time in franchise history with his 366th career goal with 22 seconds left in the first period to make it 2-0. Hischier cut New Jersey’s deficit to 3-1 with 2:13 remaining in the second for his 435th career point to move past Mark Streit for fifth-most by a Swiss-born player.

Up next

Devils: At Florida on Thursday

Lightning: Host Edmonton on Thursday


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It's official: LeBron James to make season debut for Lakers Tuesday vs. Jazz

LOS ANGELES — It's official: LeBron James will make his season debut Tuesday night at home when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz.

He is listed in the starting five, though he is likely to be on a minutes limit in his first few games.

"I thought he looked great," Lakers coach J.J. Redick said of LeBron's practice with the team Monday. "He's smart enough and there's enough carryover from last year, both with personnel and with our schemes, that I think it'll be, you know, easy for him to be integrated right away."

LeBron started suffering from sciatica on his right side back in August, and it caused him to miss all of training camp as well as the first 14 games of the season. The Lakers and James' medical team had agreed not to rush his return, and mid-November has long been the target date.

LeBron was assigned to the Lakers' G-League team last week to get in a couple of full practices, then was recalled and went through a full practice with the varsity Lakers on Monday. "Got to see how the body responds over the next 24 hours-plus," he said after the practice.

He obviously felt well enough to play.

"My lungs feel like a newborn baby," LeBron said after Monday's practice. "That's the most important thing: I've got to get my lungs back up to a grown man. My voice is already gone (from) one day back barking out calls and assignments and stuff. Got to get my voice working again. Be a lot of tea and rest tonight. Feels good to be out here with the guys. Missed them."

By stepping on the court tonight, LeBron will set a record by becoming the first player to play in 23 NBA seasons.

LeBron averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game last season, earning Second Team All-NBA honors and coming in sixth in MVP voting. He makes the Lakers' offense much more dangerous. While Redick has the Lakers running the offense through Luka Doncic, more and more teams are blitzing and trapping Doncic more to get the ball out of his hands and dare any other Laker on the floor to beat them. That ball now goes to LeBron, who gets to lead an attack on the defense in a 4-3 situation when that happens.

After Tuesday's game, the Lakers are off until Sunday, when they face the Jazz in Salt Lake City. At that point, they return home to face the Clippers in a critical West Group B NBA Cup game, which you can watch on Nov. 25 on NBC and Peacock.

How to Watch the NBA on NBC and Peacock

Peacock NBA Monday will stream up to three Monday night games each week throughout the regular season. Coast 2 Coast Tuesday presents doubleheaders on Tuesday nights throughout the regular season on NBC and Peacock. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game on NBC stations in the Pacific and often Mountain time zones. Check local listings each week. Both games will stream live nationwide on Peacock. NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026. For a full schedule of the NBA on NBC and Peacock, click here.

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WATCH: Ritchie Scores First Goal With Islanders vs. Stars

Offense was hard to come by when the New York Islanders battled the Dallas Stars.  But at 10:31 of the second, Calum Ritchie buried a give-and-go with Anthony Duclair to give his team the lead:

The Elmonters (@TheElmonters) on XThe Elmonters (@TheElmonters) on XFirst goal & point as an #Isles  for Cal Ritchie.

The Stars answered off the rush less than a minute later to even the score at 1-1. 

That was Ritchie's first goal and first point as a member of the Islanders since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche in the Brock Nelson blockbuster trade from last season's trade deadline. 

Ritchie, 20, had no points with the Islanders through his first nine and just one goal through his first 16 career NHL games. 

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Lakers star LeBron James set to make season debut tonight vs. Jazz

ARCHIVO - El alero de los Lakers de Los Ángeles, LeBron James, aparece durante la primera mitad de un partido de baloncesto de la NBA contra el Jazz de Utah, el 10 de febrero de 2025, en Los Ángeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, Archivo)
LeBron James will make his season debut tonight at Crypto.com Arena when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)

LeBron James will make his season debut Tuesday when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity, after sciatica kept James sidelined for the Lakers’ first 14 games.

James is “trending in the right direction,” coach JJ Redick said before Tuesday's game, which will mark the beginning of James' NBA-record 23rd season. The 40-year-old missed the beginning of a season for the first time in his NBA career after starting to feel discomfort in his right side this summer.

James missed all of training camp and the preseason. The Lakers put together a 10-4 record despite playing without their biggest star. In his place, Luka Doncic has emerged as the NBA's leading scorer and guard Austin Reaves is off to a career season.

The star trio played together for several months last year after Doncic joined the Lakers in a blockbuster trade, helping the team grab the third seed in the Western Conference. Redick expects the experience to help James integrate smoothly this year.

“He's smart enough and [there's] enough carry over from last year, both with personnel and with our schemes, that I think it'll be easy for him to be integrated right away,” Redick said.

James said after practice Monday he was not yet pain-free, but he has been able to manage the nerve injury enough to progress through practices with the G League team, the full NBA squad and then Tuesday's shootaround. James said dealing with sciatica came with unexpected challenges. He often could only hope he wouldn't feel pain when he woke up in the morning or when he went to sleep.

Read more:LeBron James knows there will be a 'feel-out' process when he returns to Lakers

Redick said the team and James are approaching “uncharted territory” when it comes to managing the superstar's health. Conversations have been consistent and will be ongoing as the season progresses.

“We'll figure out ways to get him rest when he needs rest,” Redick said.

Staff writer Broderick Turner contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.